Chelsea legend Mikel Obi has come to the defense of Victor Osimhen following the striker’s heated exchange with teammate Ademola Lookman during Nigeria’s 4-0 thrashing of Mozambique on Monday, Soccernet.ng reports.
The Super Eagles comfortably secured their place in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations with a dominant victory over the Mambas.
While the match was light work for the team, the performance was overshadowed by a confrontation involving Osimhen midway into the second half.
The Galatasaray star was visibly frustrated by what he perceived as selfishness from his teammates in the final third and made his feelings known emphatically to Lookman and Bright Osayi-Samuel.
During the outburst, Osimhen beat away the hand of captain Wilfred Ndidi who was trying to restrain him. Then, he signaled to the bench requesting a substitution a minute later.
The controversy continued to build in the after the game, as he refused to join his teammates for the usual post-game prayers and the lap of honor to thank the fans. Instead he just walked into the dressing room alone.
While Lookman downplayed the incident during ...-match press conference, fans have been quick to criticize Osimhen’s conduct.
Many feel that shouting at his teammates was unnecessary. However, Mikel Obi believes Osimhen was within his rights, stating that he appreciates the striker’s passion and wants to see more of that competitive fire.
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“Victor Osimhen is a fantastic young player, a player that wears his hat on his sleeve, plays like a warrior, and fights,” Mikel said on the Obi One Podcast.
“He plays in Turkey, and that’s what they like there. You have to fight on the pitch. If you do that, they give you anything you want. You have to show you want to fight on the pitch, you’re like a warrior.
“You have to be angry on the pitch, and that’s how Osimhen plays. He plays the way you see him － he fights with the defenders, and he gets the best out of himself by doing that.
“I can understand his frustration. As a striker if you score two goals, you want to get a hattrick. Strikers are happy when they get hattricks.
“Victor is a guy that scores the goals, he’s that guy that makes us play well with what he does on the ball and off the ball, and we have to give him credit for that.
“This incident that happened, I’ve been there before. Tensions fly, you want a hattrick and when you don’t get the ball, you get frustrated especially when you’re in a good position.
“I get where he’s coming from, and I like the fact that they both had an argument on the pitch. I like to see that, it’s been a long long time that I haven’t seen that with the national team.
“Everybody’s too nice with each other. They want to hold hands, they want to give you a blanket and lie down.
“I want to see us get back to where we get angry with each other. We pull each other around, we scream at each other, we hold each other’s necks and say do your job. That’s how we succeed. I’ve never seen a nice team win trophies…
“You don’t win by being nice, you win by being nasty on the pitch. Outside the pitch, we make up, we go out as friends, we go for dinners and drinks, but whatever happens on the pitch, we forget about it.
Mikel Obi Reveals The Major Goof In Victor Osimhen’s Actions
Although Mikel Obi believes Victor Osimhen did nothing wrong in calling out his teammates on the pitch, he believes the Super Eagles striker had a few issues.
Mikel believes Osimhen should not have signaled to the bench to be substituted. He also feels that the Nigerian striker should not have walked into the dressing room while his teammates were still on the pitch.
“Victor is a smart and humble kid. But he plays the way he is, and I don’t want that taken away from him,” Mikel added.
“The way he plays, his aggressivity, the warriorness he has on the pitch, he fights like a lion. But you have to manage him.
“What I didn’t like about the situation was the afters. He stopped playing, he stopped putting the effort, he stopped running.
“He will look back and say maybe I’ve crossed the line. The part where he walked straight into the dressing room.
“It’s always about the team, it’s always about the country. Nobody is bigger than a club or country. Jay-Jay, Kanu, me, we all came and left, the national team is still there.”
Recent reports from the Super Eagkes camp indicate that Osimhen has apologized to his teammates and the tension in camp has reduced.
Moving forward, it is hoped that things will work well between the 27-year-old striker and the rest of his teammates. The AFCON 2025 title is the prize, and they will be hoping to get it as soon as possible.